Understaffing in Nursing Home Attorneys in Philadelphia
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UNDERSTAFFED NURSING HOMES CAN BE A SERIOUS RISK
Get The Compensation They Deserve
Nursing home malpractice should never happen. The patients at nursing homes are already weakened and need the utmost attention. That’s why understaffing in nursing homes is a massive failure on the part of the facility, and why our team at Thistle Law and fought to win the families that suffer as a result millions in settlements.
Your elderly loved one deserves respect and the highest level of care. Nursing home arrangements for your cherished parent or loved one should be designed around dignity, compassionate treatment, and exceptional healthcare.
What makes understaffing so frustratingly negligent is that the root of much of the problem comes down to the facility’s bottom dollar. By stretching the staff they hire to their limit they can hire fewer people and save themselves money, often some of the first cuts are highly trained RN’s that demand higher salaries. But running this kind of skeleton operation has serious consequences.
The patients staying in nursing homes are there specifically because they’re more susceptible to injuries. That means they need more attention not less. If your loved one suffered from a fall or bedsores because they weren’t attended to properly it’s likely the symptom of understaffing.
Injuries to nursing home patients can be disastrous. In addition to being more prone to injury, any new injuries they suffer put their lives at risk. Something that may seem insignificant like a bruised knee can take an elderly patient a long time to recover from. When they have lower mobility and addition pain their future health outcomes become much worse. Where they were once active and social, they’re now confined to their bed or wheelchair.
Injuries Caused by Understaffing
While the effects of nursing home understaffing aren’t immediately clear, they are apparent in the injuries suffered by patients as a result. Understaffing means that there aren’t enough medical professions on duty to handle the amount of work they have, or that there weren’t enough medical professions hired at the facility to begin with. This means that the staff that is there doesn’t necessarily have to be incompetant to lead to medical negligence, they may just be too busy to complete all of their duties properly.
On top of needed work going undone because of busy staff, understaffing means that the training of the staff is often improper as well, because there aren’t enough personnel to train to the staff before they’re thrown to work. When you put busy, improperly trained staff together the healthcare of the patients suffers, that’s why the medical facility is acting negligently when injuries happen because of understaffing.
Nursing Home’s Liability for Understaffing
Understaffing is known to be a serious problem in the nursing home industry. Every year, state audits raise the alarm about the understaffing crisis, yet for-profit nursing homes continue to cut costs, gaining substantial profits for little effort. When they do this and their patients suffer as a result they’re in violation of their duty of care.
When a nursing home takes a new resident they’re not just accepting their money, they’re accepting a duty to provide reasonable care to that patient, that means attending them when needed, being well trained, and keeping their environment safe. When they don’t provide the necessary level of care they are liable for the pain and suffering they cause as well as the expenses.
Philadelphia Nursing Home Personal Injury Lawyers
There are nursing home liability laws to hold nursing homes responsible when they’re negligent in their duty to provide proper care. If you think a nursing home was responsible for injuries suffered by you or a loved one you want to consult an experienced nursing home lawyer to review all of your legal options as soon as possible.
Our team at Thistle Law has handled hundreds of medical malpractice cases and can help you evaluate all of your legal options. We care for each of our clients with compassion and will fight to get you what you deserve. Call (215) 525-6824 or use our contact page to start your free consultation today.